Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday met Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi and urged her to sanction Rs 250 crore for construction of 3,385 anganwadi centre buildings in the state.
Following the meeting at Odisha Bhawan in New Delhi, the Chief Minister said he apprised the Union Minister about the fact that Odisha has been performing better than the national average in all nutritional and health indicators over last 10 years as revealed by the National Family Health Survey-4. Significant improvements have been registered in infant mortality rate, underweight children, stunting among children, exclusive breast feeding and complementary feeding. This could be achieved by providing adequate nutritional supplementation, improved immunization and institutional deliveries, he added
Naveen urged Maneka to further strengthen the Integrated Child Development Services Programme and enhance the approved rate for supplementary nutrition, approve at least one anganwadi centre or mini-anganwadi centre for every hamlet in tribal areas irrespective of population and increase the honorarium of anganwdi workers and helpers.
“Malnutrition among children dominated our discussion. The Centre is considering steps on how it can help the state and fund institutions to help malnourished women and children,” the Union Minister said.
Referring to Uttarakhand, where a mix of millets and peanuts in sachets for supplementing the nutritional needs of preschool children and mothers has been introduced, Maneka suggested that Odisha may consider adopting a similar feeding system.
The Odisha government has already extended its community management of malnutrition programme to all 30 districts of the state. Around Rs 808.98 crore was earmarked for supplementary nutrition programme in the annual programme implementation plan of ICDS for 2017-18, official sources said.
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